HOW little of this vast subject, my young friends, can I bring before you. The length, breadth, and wonderful depth of the ocean, I have measured for you. Its tides, currents, calms, and tremendous storms, I have said a little about; but when we come to its living creatures, their apparently infinite variety, and the inconceivable mass of life in each variety, how can I tell you of all this? This life is divided into great families, in each of which are many members, all more or less alike. All I can aim at is, to take up one of the most interesting in some of these great families, and tell you of their habits, instincts, and homes; the work God has given them to do, and how they supply you and me with food, clothing, ornaments, and useful articles.
We have glanced at the polypi and their magnificent works, the coral reefs; then the sponge, and its wonderful mode of life, and how useful it is in every family; after that, those beautiful floating medusae, the flowers and ornaments of the deep ocean; all these, and their varieties are endless, none would think were living creatures, so much are they like vegetables, had it not been for the wonderful power of the microscope. Another great family is the shellfish; and we have glanced at the pearl oyster, with its rich and much coveted treasures, and then the common eating oyster, which is cultivated so extensively, but which itself has such a hard life.
Oysters are called bivalves, and, as we saw, have no power of motion. But the next great family of shell-fish are able to move from place to place. Of these there is an immense variety.
Their shape is almost endless, and they are among the most beautiful objects of the sea. These shells are used, as you know, for ornaments in our rooms. Some shells are all of one color, and so brilliant, that the painter tries in vain to reproduce them. Some are striped, mottled, or traced with various designs. The construction of these shells and of the mollusks, as the living fish inside is called, is wonderful in every respect. Some live on herbs, some on flesh. The common periwinkles, one branch of this family, live upon infinitesimal plants.
I now pass on to the next great family of the sea, which is as wonderful as any of its companions. It can scarcely be called a fish, so curious is its construction. Try and picture a long cylindrical body, flat and flabby, terminating in a great head with two enormous eyes, one on each side, its summit containing a mouth, or rather a beak, a horny substance, bent sharply like the bill of a parrot, around which branch out eight or ten arms, two much longer than the rest. These strange creatures are called Cephalopods, because their feet branch out of their heads. They have all kinds of shapes, two of which we give. As in every family there is a great variety, it would take a volume to describe them all. The common name of the whole tribe is that of cuttle fish.
They swarm in every ocean; some are found on the coasts, others inhabit the deep waters. They are ruthless despots, for their love of taking life is only bounded by their power. Not being able to pursue their prey, for their motion is slow, they have resort to craft; and like hunters of wily game, they lie in ambush, awaiting its approach. Fixing themselves in a hole, their long arms are always ready for action. Their great eyes, always widely opened, patiently watch for their prey, and instantly a victim is within arm's reach, it is seized. The cluster of arms encloses it, and draws it to the beak, where it is devoured without pity. It is the tiger of the sea, for it destroys for the simple pleasure of killing. An observer tells of having seen a small cuttle fish deserted by the ebbing tide, and left with a shoal of little fish in a pool upon the beach. He seemed to be whiling away his hours, or perhaps venting his rage, by killing all his fellow-prisoners. He had satisfied his hunger, and most probably had ceased only because he could eat no longer, and now was wantonly killing for amusement. Yet are they strong examples of retributive justice. As they savagely kill, so are they ruthlessly devoured. Their enemies, the dolphins, deal death and mutilation to thousands of their kind; and often the shores of the Bay of Biscay may be seen covered with cuttles, with their arms torn off, and other parts of their bodies bitten by the dolphins, who hunt them in sport.
In ancient times there were strange stories told and believed about these strange creatures. One weighed 700 lbs., had arms thirty feet long, and it destroyed all the fish and fishing grounds near Castria in Spain. Another was said to inhabit the northern seas—a perfect monster, not less than a mile in length, and a terror to all sailors. Nay, so far did imagination work, that it was said one of these monsters actually blocked up the Straits of Gibralter!
Though no one now believes these stories, yet modern naturalists tell us of some really gigantic cephalopods that have been caught, and some of them preserved. On the 30th of November, 1861, the French steam corvette Alecton, when near Madeira, encountered one of these monsters floating on the surface of the water. It was sixteen or eighteen feet long without its long arms. Its eyes were of an enormous size. Its mouth or beak opened ten inches. It was supposed to weigh over 4,000 lbs. As the corvette approached, the creature showed signs of intelligence, and endeavored to move out of the way. The commander, anxious to secure the creature, loaded the guns and made ready harpoons with rope nooses. At the first shot the monster plunged beneath the water, and appeared again on the other side of the boat. Again the guns were discharged; and each time the creature was either wounded by the harpoons or the shot, it dived beneath the surface, but always came up again after a few minutes. It was found impossible to secure the monster, as the harpoons could not bite on the flabby flesh, and came out as they went in, and the shot seemed to do it no harm. At last one ball struck a vital part, for the creature vomited blood and froth with glutinous matter, which sent out a strong smell of musk. At last they were able to cast a noose over it; the rope slipped down its body till arrested by the fins at its tail, and when they endeavored to hoist it on board, the rope cut into the flesh and separated the body into two parts; the head with its long arms dropped heavily into the sea, and made off; and the hinder parts were drawn on deck. It was thought that the monster was sick, or exhausted by some recent combat with a monster of the deep.
Enormous as are some kinds of the cuttle fish met with, every child has seen small specimens of the same family on the sea shore, after the tide has gone down. Like the medusae they seem to be masses of thick jelly; but the moment they are placed in water, their true character with their spreading arms, is plainly seen.